Love on Lavender Lane

by Karis Walsh

  Paige took a bite of the flatbread. “Mm. I can barely taste the lavender in this. It blends in with the other flavors very well.”

  Kassidy somehow managed to swallow her wine before laughing. “There isn’t any lavender in it. I don’t put it in everything I cook, just because I grow it here.”

  Paige laughed, too. “You shouldn’t have told me. You had me believing you were the master of subtlety.”

  Kassidy chewed a forkful of salad. “So are you going to tell me why you’re really here? It seems excessive for a simple apology, and Sarai was sort of vague about it on the phone. She seemed to think we knew each other.”

  Paige watched her intently, as if trying to gauge her reaction. “I know your father. I did some consulting work for his firm, and he hired me to do the same for your farm. It’s a birthday present. Surprise!”

  The last word was spoken with an injection of enthusiasm, complete with an awkward flourish of jazz hands. Kassidy could see something underlying Paige’s cheerful smile, though, as if she was aware of tension between Kassidy and her dad. How much did she know about Kassidy’s personal business? She ate some more bites of salad, not really tasting anything but trying to get her equilibrium back.

  “My birthday is in June,” she said.

  Paige shrugged. “Well, I’m between clients right now, so it’s an early present.”

  Kassidy gave up the pretense of enjoying her meal and sat back in her chair, her arms crossed over her chest. The more believable explanation was that her dad had forgotten when her birthday was. Since Paige was carefully avoiding eye contact, she probably realized it, as well. Kassidy didn’t care for her own sake, since she had grown up with her dad’s absentminded approach to fatherhood, but she hated having anyone else witness his lack of concern for her.

  “What kind of consultant are you?”

  She knew her tone sounded snippy, but Paige didn’t seem deterred.

  “General business,” she said. Her tone of voice and facial expressions changed as she switched to a discussion of her profession. She suddenly seemed as detached and unadorned as the clothes she was wearing, and Kassidy found herself missing Paige’s sharp gaze and ready laugh. “I observe companies and suggest ways they can improve in efficiency, structure, production…whatever is appropriate for the industry they’re in.”

  “So you tell companies which employees they should fire?”

  Kassidy saw a brief flash of something unreadable flit across the professional mask Paige was now wearing, but it disappeared with a shrug.

  “Sometimes, yes. But I also advise in other ways. Some clients need to restructure certain aspects of their companies. Combine some job requirements or divide others among more employees. Maybe invest in specialized training. Also, successful businesses don’t always take advantage of expanding markets and changing industry climates because they get complacent. They might function well for another five or ten years after missing significant opportunities, but they eventually fall behind their competitors.”

  Kassidy nodded. Her dad had always been successful, with flashy apartments and cars and an extravagant lifestyle. She was surprised to hear he needed a consultant, but Paige’s last example made sense to her. “That’s what you did for my dad, isn’t it?”

  “My final proposals are often multifaceted,” Paige said ambiguously, still managing to sound like an impersonal brochure come to life. “I never share the results of my consultations with anyone but my client.”

  Kassidy gritted her teeth. The thought of her dad intruding on her business, implying she was failing somehow, was bad enough. But for Paige to give him access to all her private information, all the things Paige decided she was doing wrong? No way.

  Paige reached forward and rapped her knuckles on the table, pulling Kassidy’s attention back to her. “You would be my client, Kassidy. Your dad paid for this as a gift, but the contract is in your name, and all privileges of confidentiality belong to you.”

  “That’s good to hear,” Kassidy said in a determinedly casual tone, trying not to let her face show how much Paige’s assurances meant to her. The very fact that Paige had felt the need to tell her this indicated that she knew Kassidy’s relationship with her father wasn’t a typical loving one. If Kassidy admitted how much she wanted to keep her affairs private, she would be revealing too much of herself to a relative stranger.

  She paused and collected herself. Paige wasn’t Audrey. She might sense that Kassidy and her dad were distant, at best, from each other, but she had just promised she wouldn’t use the information she got from Kassidy to expose the details of her business to her dad. If Kassidy could trust what Paige was saying, of course. She felt she could based on her instincts, but her gut had been wrong before.

  She stared out the window at the rolling field of lavender behind the house. Her dad had gone away soon after the twins had been born, leaving Kassidy to take care of them and her mother, who barely managed to get out of bed most days. The first few times she and the twins had gone to his new Portland apartment for visitation weekends, she had hoped for at least a few hours with a responsible, present parent. She had soon learned to give up those expectations. Now, his intrusions into her life always caused her to feel stress and anxiety rather than the joy she would have experienced as a child.

  She toyed with the delicate, wilting greens with her fork. She had to deflect the attention away from her childhood and family life, and Paige offered the perfect opportunity. She might be able to manage high-end corporate clients, but she was out of her element on the farm. She’d have nothing of use to contribute here besides humorous commentary about cooking with lavender.

  “These skills you have, do you really believe they’re transferable from a massive commercial real estate firm to a boutique farm? To be honest, you don’t seem to know the first thing about lavender. I wouldn’t be surprised if I found the ones you replanted upside down, with their roots waving in the air.”

  “Hey, give me a little credit for having common sense.” Paige dropped her businesslike persona for a moment and laughed, with a slight blush reddening her cheeks. “Well, I’m pretty sure I put them back the right way. Purple dots in the ground, sticklike parts in the air. Right?”

  Kassidy couldn’t stop her answering smile. “Brilliant. Now I have no hesitation handing over all my business decisions to you.”

  Paige grinned. “Actually, you’re right. I don’t know anything about growing lavender or selling it, or even why people want to buy it. But that’s what makes me so good at what I do. I observe without bias, learn like a beginner, and always see answers and options that people with entrenched ideas and beliefs seem to miss.”

  Kassidy shook her head. Paige sounded more real now, and less like a publicity video, but she still didn’t seem to understand Kassidy’s situation. “I don’t have a bunch of employees to fire. I hire a few people to help me during harvesting, but I do most of the work here on my own. You can’t magically lower my property taxes or turn my product into a money-earner like real estate or the newest technology. It’s lavender. It’s wonderful, but the potential is limited.”

  Paige clapped her hands together. “Exactly. You see limits. I come in with fresh eyes and see possibilities. That’s what I do. It doesn’t matter if you’re making hundreds of dollars a month or millions. The process is the same.”

  Kassidy managed to stop thinking about her own issues—her farm, her meddling father, her determination to keep her private affairs private—and noticed the almost passionate way Paige talked about her consulting business.

  “If you’re this good at figuring out how to run a corporation, why don’t you have one of your own? Why spend your life helping other people make money when you could, according to your own humble assessment, take any type of business and make it a success?”

  Paige was silent for a moment. She kept her smile in place while she scrambled for a way to answer Kassidy’s question. She had been an economics major at Reed a
nd had gone on to get her MBA, but she had never found a niche for herself. She was good at injecting herself into other people’s lives for a short time, subsuming their interests and learning what she needed to know before making her recommendations and moving on. She just didn’t have anything she cared about on her own, which was part of the reason why she hated being between jobs. This one certainly wasn’t ideal, and Kassidy wasn’t a willing client, but Paige needed to be absorbed in learning. Lavender seemed to be an interesting enough topic, and Kassidy’s farm could obviously use her help—after all, what business couldn’t?

  “My skills seem better suited to consulting,” she answered vaguely. “Most of my clients are too personally involved in their businesses to adequately evaluate them. I can come in as an outsider, with a certain detachment, and see possibilities others might never consider.”

  She sighed and took a bite of salad, relieved that she had turned an uncomfortable personal question into a plug for her business. She needed to remember the wording she had used and put it on her website. She gave herself a mental high five. Way to turn a personal defect into a slogan.

  Kassidy shook her head and finished off a triangle of flatbread. “The things you say make sense, but I still don’t see how they’d apply to my farm. There’s only so much you can do with lavender, unless you’re an alchemist and can turn it into gold.”

  Paige spread her hands in a frustrated gesture. “You’re providing proof for what I’m saying every time you open your mouth. You keep talking about what can’t be done, while I’m here to show you new markets you’ve never even considered.”

  Kassidy rolled her eyes. “You’re persistent. I’ll give you that.”

  “And you’re stubborn. Determined to follow your own path even if it leads you to bankruptcy. Losing your farm. Are you really willing to give up a chance to improve your financial situation just to make a point to your dad?”

  “So my choices are either accept your help or declare bankruptcy?” Kassidy pushed back from the table and stood up. “I’ll take the third option and keep the farm going on my own. I’ve done a damned good job so far, and I have a community of people around me who are supportive and who understand what it’s like to run a business like mine. If I need help—which I don’t—I’ll turn to one of them.”

  Kassidy went into the kitchen, leaving the door swinging wildly behind her. Dante and Kipper followed her, dodging through the door on one of its swings. Paige gently set her fork down on her plate, not trusting herself to keep hold of it because she felt tempted to throw it at the wall in frustration. Why was she fighting so hard? Kassidy obviously didn’t want her help, and Paige—despite her arguments to the contrary—wasn’t fully convinced she would be able to offer any useful assistance. The entire place was covered with lavender plants. Either they sold for enough money to make a profit or they didn’t. There didn’t seem to be enough variables to offer a chance for drastic improvement.

  Paige rubbed her temple, hoping the headache she felt wasn’t the onset of a migraine. She undid her barrette and ran her fingers through her hair, releasing the tension caused by the tight hairstyle and letting her curls brush against her neck. Maybe Kassidy didn’t need a drastic improvement in her farm’s situation. Maybe a few cut corners or an as-yet unexplored source of revenue would be enough to help her cope more comfortably with her taxes and other expenses. Paige loved learning new things, and her interest was piqued by Kassidy’s farm and by the local community. And she never turned down a challenge. Besides, she had only finished Kenneth Drake’s proposal a week ago, and she was already frustrated by the lack of direction and substance she noticed in her life when she wasn’t working. She needed something to do.

  She got up and stacked her plate with Kassidy’s. Her reasons were valid, but they weren’t the full truth. She had felt a desire to support Kassidy during her meeting with Kenneth, even before she met her. The feeling had intensified today when she saw hurt flash across Kassidy’s face before it was hastily hidden behind a scowl. Paige’s attraction to Kassidy belonged on the list of reasons why she should run away from this job, but at the same time, it made her want to stay. She could be professional and ignore her feelings, especially since they were clearly not reciprocated.

  Paige was about to go into the kitchen and request a truce when Kassidy came through the door, holding it open as the animals followed her through. She handed Paige a Fudgsicle.

  “Peace offering,” she said, sitting down again and unwrapping her own bar. “There isn’t any lavender in it, in case you’re wondering, although it might be a tasty combination.”

  Paige smiled, feeling the sharp edges of her headache soften with Kassidy’s words. She sat in her chair, and Dante came over and rested his chin on her knee. Kassidy looked like she wanted to say more, so Paige remained silent and rubbed Dante’s ears.

  “It’s just…well, the only time he expresses any interest in my business, it’s to tell me to sell the farm and do something more worthwhile. Something he considers to be more worthwhile. And now his birthday present—sent months early and by proxy, for God’s sake—is just another way for him to express his belief that I’m incapable of managing my own farm.”

  “He hired me first, to help him,” Paige reminded Kassidy. She didn’t fully understand the family dynamics in play here, and she wouldn’t insult Kassidy by telling her that her instincts were wrong, and her father really did believe in her. He didn’t, and he expected Paige to nudge Kassidy toward giving up her farm. She planned to do the exact opposite if Kassidy gave her a chance. “He wanted to improve his company and he believed I was the right person to help him do it. He’s not offering you help that he wasn’t willing to take on his own.”

  Kassidy frowned. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.” She took a bite of her dessert and drummed her fingers on the table. “So if I decided to let you work your consultant magic here, what would happen, exactly?”

  Paige smiled. Now they were getting somewhere. “Well, I’d like to observe you for a few days.” She cleared her throat, distracted by the thought of an all-too-personal type of observation. She started talking faster to keep her brain occupied with work and not the image of Kassidy traipsing through lavender-scented fields. “Watch you work on the farm, I mean. So I get an idea of the routines and processes you have in place. I try to keep my research to a minimum until I see how my clients’ individual businesses are run because each one is unique, even if it’s based on a similar industry or model. If I do too much research before I have a chance to observe, I’ll only be learning what worked for someone else and might be tempted to push an agenda without understanding how it will fit your situation.”

  “That makes sense,” Kassidy said, nibbling on her empty stick and sounding slightly annoyed because she had to agree with what Paige was saying.

  Paige stared at Kassidy’s lips for a long moment before she managed to look away. She focused her attention on the cabinet against the wall to her right, trying to concentrate on the way the green paint had been distressed until the knotty wood showed through beneath the wash of color. It was a pretty piece, and somewhat interesting, but it required a determined effort to keep her attention on it and not on Kassidy’s mouth.

  “So, um, yeah. I’d need to see your books, of course. And I’ll want to visit other—”

  “My what?”

  “Your books. You do keep track of spending, profits, deductions, and all that, don’t you?”

  “Of course. But that seems very intimate.”

  Paige sighed. Her headache was coming back. “I promise I’ll be fully clothed while I look at them.”

  “Not that kind of intimate.” Kassidy hesitated, carefully centering the stick on the discarded wrapper and folding it up with a series of pleats. “How about this. You come here early tomorrow morning, and I’ll show you around and explain how the farm functions. Then you can give me a suggestion about how I can improve what I do. If it seems reasonable, we’ll talk
about revealing my finances.”

  Paige stared at her in disbelief. “So you want me to audition for a job I already have?”

  Kassidy spread her hands. “Think of it as a trial period to see if we work well together.”

  Paige might be attracted to Kassidy, and she might admire the beautiful place she had created, but she had a suspicion that working together wouldn’t be easy for either one of them. Mostly for her. Still, she had invested too much time to back down now. Hadn’t she just been thinking about how much she enjoyed challenges? That had been a stupid thought.

  “You don’t sound positive about my chances. Maybe I should go back to my initial plan, before I knew who you were, and ask you out instead.”

  “I’d say the odds are pretty even for both options,” Kassidy said, keeping her eyes lowered and biting her lip as if to hide a smile. “Neither one seems like a good bet at the moment.”

  Paige grinned, not fooled by Kassidy’s assessment of her chances. She smiled at the suggestion of a date but had looked ready to flip the dining room table on its side when Paige mentioned looking at the farm’s accounts. Paige knew which choice she wanted to make. Asking Kassidy out, though, would be selfish and short-term, given Paige’s usual relationship style. Helping her with her business would benefit Kassidy in the future. Really, no matter how tempted she was, Paige had only one option.

  “Fine,” she said. “I’ll be here bright and early, ready to wow you with my advice.”

  “Good. I’ll prepare to be dazzled.”

  Chapter Five

  Paige drove the ten-mile circuitous route that bypassed the town of McMinnville and brought her to a valley south of Kassidy’s farm, where the winery and bed-and-breakfast where she was staying was located. She was tempted to download every book she could find about lavender growing and use the downtime between now and tonight’s dinner with Sarai to come up with some ideas to toss at Kassidy tomorrow. She’d resist, though, and not just because it felt like cheating. She would surely find some useful advice in a book, but she’d be throwing off her usual rhythm when faced with an unknown client and industry. She had to keep her long-term goal in sight—to help Kassidy’s farm realize its unique potential—and ignore the desire to show off by sounding like an expert after one day of study. She wouldn’t fool Kassidy with hastily acquired knowledge. Instead, she would impress her the way she always did during a consultation. She would let her own instincts guide her advice, not another farmer’s suggestions.